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McGill, News

Spousal hiring at McGill

by Cherry Ng on

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A professor, who is remaining anonymous, was previously a faculty lecturer at McGill University. From her perspective, she had done everything that was expected of a good academic. She had good student reviews, published papers, and made presentations at international conferences. So when she was suddenly told that McGill would not renew her contract, she was taken by surprise. She later discovered that her job had gone to a spousal hire. She preferred not to disclose when her contract was not renewed. 

Spousal hiring usually happens when McGill provides relocation assistance to the spouses of newly hired tenure-stream academic staff by offering appointments, such as tenured/tenure track positions, contract academic staff (CAS) positions, and non-academic positions. In the professor’s case, however, the professor who negotiated the spousal hire was not newly employed.

“The husband, [who was a tenure track professor], had applied to teach [at other universities] and was offered to teach somewhere else,” the professor said. “He used his platform to re-negotiate his contract with [McGill University] so that his wife could get a job. He said, ‘If you don’t give my wife a job, I will leave for this other university.’”

At the time, the professor had been hired on a nine-month contract as a faculty lecturer, a type of CAS that are taken on to teach. Her contract had been renewed three times and she expected it would be renewed for a fourth year.

Terry Hebert, McGill Association of University Teachers (MAUT) president and professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, expressed that renewal of a contract is never guaranteed.

“There’s an end date in the contract,” Hebert said. “[The faculty lecturers] would know when their job will end. If I knew my contract was coming soon, I would be asking around.”

While the professor acknowledged that a contract has an end date, she expected to be notified that her contract would not be renewed.

“In theory, you say, ‘Oh it’s a nine-month contract,’” the professor said. “But when you’ve had it for three years and you’ve been doing a good job, there’s an assumption that [the administration] will let you know if they don’t plan on renewing you. And they can do this because there is no union, no protection.”

When the professor was told her contract would not be renewed, teaching application deadlines had already passed. Her phone service was suspended and her credit rating fell. 

“I applied for the [faculty lecturer position] even though there was no opening,” the professor said. “I wasn’t told that, ‘This is your last year’, so that I was able to prepare. I wasn’t told until it was too late to apply to jobs. [The department] said they were taking a new direction. But there was no new direction. What they had done was hire [the spouse] and now [the spouse] is in that position.”

Faculty lecturer positions must be advertised in bulletins from the University Affairs or Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), letters to the department heads of at least 10 similar departments in Canada, and Canadian professional journals. Associate Provost (Policies, Procedures, and Equity) Angela Campbell said that spousal hirings can be the exception to the mandatory advertising rule. McGill can offer tenured/tenure track and CAS appointments, even when they have not been advertised and have not undergone competition. According to the McGill spousal hiring webpage, hiring procedures for CAS positions have even greater flexibility than tenured/tenure track appointments.

“In some cases, the advertising process for spousal hires may not be the same as that ordinarily followed,” Campbell wrote in an email to //The McGill Tribune//.

While the position may not be advertised, the appointment must still undergo review.

“Due diligence remains essential to ensure that the academic appointment (whether CAS or tenure track) has been carefully reviewed by the academic unit that is undertaking the hire, and that the hire furthers the academic mission of the University,” Campbell wrote.

 

Art, Arts & Entertainment

Photographer Jules Tomi brings viewers closer to South Korea

by Clemence Auzias on

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Seoul may be far away—yet through “Seoul, c’est loin,” you will be closer than ever to the inimitable Korean city. Photographer Jules Tomi, U3 Sociology, allows viewers to travel all the way across the ocean with his photos that capture the beauty of what may be an unfamiliar terrain to some.  This all started with a photography book, a film camera, and a passion for Korean culture. 

When he was 14, Tomi’s mother got him a book of  French photographer Robert Doineau’s work and a film camera—enough to encourage him to begin taking pictures of everything. Later on, when taking classes at McGill, he developed an interest in Korea.

“I had been interested in Korea for quite a few years, it started pretty randomly,” Tomi said. “I just started watching movies out of nowhere, and they have a really good cinema, so I just watched a lot of them, and eventually it got me interested in other Korean things, more political and social issues.” 

These cultural phenomena are at the heart of the project he is currently presenting at the Glass Door Gallery on St Laurent. The project, composed of seemingly banal photos, are each emotionally touching because of their simplicity. One captivating shot, “fatigue 1,” simply shows a man asleep in public. Nothing is out of the ordinary, yet it is a moving shot. 

“I spent two months [in Korea] and so I brought two cameras, twenty rolls of film, not really knowing what I would be doing in the end,” Tomi explained. “So I just started taking pictures randomly, as I do here, just walking for hours in cities taking pictures and eventually, I sort of felt like I knew where I was going.” 

Tomi is trying to turn the everyday scenes he witnessed in Korea into artistic representations of the lived experiences of his subjects. For instance, Tomi explored the problem of seniors in poverty, explaining that old women are often forced to sell vegetables and other wares on the street to sustain themselves and when they are not financially supported by their families.  

“You don’t really realize what they represent, they’re just cute ladies selling vegetables on the street,” Tomi said. “But for me, with that knowledge and that background when I saw those people, […] I was able to understand what it meant on a larger scale.” 

When viewing many of the portraits, after discovering even just a little part of Korea’s social issues—such as impoverished senior citizens—the expressions of the subjects appear more poignant. 

“This is the type of photography that simply depicts the social reality of random people in the city, and since I study sociology, [I quickly] saw a connection between my interest in photography and my studies,” Tomi said.

This link between the studies Tomi is pursuing at McGill and his photos is what makes the entire project so attractive. Through this exhibit he is not only expressing his artistic ideas of what is beautiful, but also his understanding of social experiences. 

“Some people write books [to express their thoughts] and I take photos,” Tomi said.   

Private, Recipes, Student Life

Good Mood Food: 3 recipes with mood-boosting properties

by Marie Labrosse on

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With second semester already in full swing, gloomily shortened winter days, and the 45th President of the United States’ rocky first week in office, McGill students currently face countless reasons to feel down. One solution to this can be found in the diet; studies have shown a strong correlation between the foods one consumes and his or her everyday mood. Researchers have specifically identified a total of 11 nutrients that can help give one’s mood a healthy boost: Carbohydrates, proteins, omega-3 fatty acids, B-vitamins, folate, calcium, chromium, iodine, iron, lithium, selenium,  and zinc. While these technical terms for the nutrients beneficial to mental wellness may seem complicated, in reality, they are found in common ingredients that many students already have in their kitchen.

While consumption of these foods has been found to be connected to improvements in mood, they are not meant to replace treatment for diagnosed mental illnesses. Rather, these foods are simply part of a lifestyle of self-care that can improve mental well-being in general.
 

Maple-glazed salmon and spinach

(mccormick.com)
(mccormick.com)

This easy salmon dish with a side of greens makes for a quick, mood-boosting dinner. Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12; a deficiency in either is often associated with symptoms of depression. Sprinkling the fish with sesame seeds can also improve mood because, like most high-protein foods, they contain tryosine—an amino acid essential to the production of two neurotransmitters that regulate mood and behaviour. Leafy green vegetables, such as spinach or broccoli, contain an array of B-vitamins, including B12. Spinach also contains a large amount of iron, which when absent from the human body, results in a severe lack of energy.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ lbs salmon fillets
  • 1/4 cup melted butter
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp. grainy mustard
  • 2 tbsp. soy sauce
  • 6 tbsp. black and white sesame seeds (optional)
  • 3 tsp. olive oil
  • 225g baby spinach leaves

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425° F.

  2. Whisk together butter, maple syrup, mustard, and soy sauce. Pour over the salmon pieces in a baking dish. Rub the fish with sesame seeds if desired.

  3. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

  4. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a non-stick frying pan, and cook spinach leaves for 2-3 minutes until wilted. Season to taste.

(Recipe courtesy of Marie Labrosse)

Warm quinoa, spinach, and mushroom salad

(closetcooking.com)
(closetcooking.com)

For a vegetarian alternative to salmon, try a warm spinach salad. This salad also contains spinach, thus retaining the same mood enhancing benefits as the recipe above, combined with the uplifting qualities of quinoa and mushroom. Complex carbohydrates like quinoa trigger the production of serotonin and tryptophan—brain chemicals that contribute to an individual’s mood. Mushrooms are a source of selenium, which has been cited as a nutrient capable of reducing anxiety. As an extra pick-me-up, sprinkle the salad with high-protein seeds like sesame, sunflower, or chia seeds.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 pounds fresh shiitake or portobello mushrooms, stems removed, caps halved
  • 1 ½ cups quinoa
  • 1 pound baby spinach
  • 8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions:

  1. Heat broiler and set rack 4 inches from heat.

  2. Whisk together vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper for the dressing.

  3. On a large rimmed broiler-proof baking sheet, toss the mushrooms with half of the dressing. Broil 20-25 minutes until liquid is almost entirely evaporated, and mushrooms are tender, tossing occasionally.

  4. Meanwhile, cook the quinoa. Bring quinoa and 3 cups of water to a boil, then reduce to low heat, cover, and simmer until tender and fluffy.

  5. Place spinach in a large bowl with hot mushrooms, quinoa, and the rest of the dressing. Toss to combine, and top with crumbled feta.

(Adapted from marthastewart.com)

Chocolate peanut butter avocado pudding

(Marie Labrosse / The McGill Tribune)
(Marie Labrosse / The McGill Tribune)

Consuming an excess of sugar can trigger or worsen anxiety symptoms, but not all desserts are harmful for one’s mood. Some sweet treats contain mood-boosting ingredients, such as this chocolate peanut butter avocado pudding. Avocados are considered to have the strongest  positive effect on mental wellness of all foods. They are full of more than a few of the  nutrients that improve mental well-being recognized by researchers, including B-vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids. They can also help with falling asleep and improving sleep quality due to their elevated copper content. Additionally, dark chocolate causes the brain to release endorphins and boost serotonin levels. Studies show that sustained consumption of chocolate helps to reduce stress levels and anxiety symptoms, thus making this the perfect dessert to revive low spirits.
 

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 avocados
  • 1 banana
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa or cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup sweetener of choice (maple syrup, agave, date paste, honey)
  • 1/4 cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk

Instructions:

  1. Add all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.

  2. Adjust the proportions according to your taste: Add more milk to thin the pudding, more cocoa powder to intensify, or more sweetener to obtain a sweeter flavour.

  3. Divide between six small serving glasses, protect with plastic wrap, and leave to chill for at least a few hours.

(Adapted from minimalistbaker.com)

Commentary, Opinion

McGill must improve the medical notes system

by Grace Bahler on

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At 8:30 on weekday mornings, coughs and sniffles fill the McGill Health Services clinic. Sick students, looking miserable to their core, sit and wait—some for strep tests, others for a prescription. Many, however, have braved the negative temperature and icy sidewalks to wait for nothing but a medical note to save their GPA.

It’s an unfortunate reality that many committed—and ill—students at McGill face. It is it absurd to have sick students wake up for the clinic’s 8:30 AM opening, to then wait hours on end to see a nurse or doctor, only to have them scribble down a few words and provide a signature. The process places an unreasonable and unnecessary burden on sick students.

Current classroom policies require students to obtain a medical note to avoid penalization for missing class, which may result in lower participation marks. This leaves two choices for sick students: Get the slip of paper to save one’s grades, or get the rest to spare one’s health. Apparently, there is no way to have both. However, all hope is not lost: The Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) University Affairs Committee (UAC) is presently working to strike a working group on academic accommodations, as part of SSMU’s broader Know Your Rights campaign.

According to the Know Your Rights website, the UAC’s VP Internal and Office of the Dean of Students are undergoing talks regarding amending and upgrading the medical note policy, with the intention “to develop recommendations for faculty-specific improvements to streamline procedures and reduce the documentation requirements for students and Student Services.”

 

 

It is understandable that a professor would require punctuality and a way of monitoring satisfactory attendance, but it is not acceptable to have such a strenuous process to excuse an absence.

If successful, this initiative will benefit not only students, but also the university’s professors. It is understandable that a professor would require punctuality and a way of monitoring satisfactory attendance, but it is not acceptable to have such a strenuous process to excuse an absence.

While the clinic does its job prescribing the right antibiotics for sinus infections and pesky coughs, the process to see a physician for a note is painstaking and laden with inefficiency. Obtaining a doctor’s note requires no more than a five-minute encounter with an MD, but appointment slots fill up so fast that many students are left with no choice but to leave empty-handed. With no excuse for their absence, these unlucky latecomers must then return to class rather than their beds.

Pertaining to mental health and missing class, you can only hope that you have an understanding professor or a reliable psychiatrist. While McGill offers counselling services, walk-in spots are limited and resources are slim. In a high-stress university environment, students need to be able to find help when they need it, and an effective way to communicate their struggles to professors without being penalized.

There is an ideal option that comes to mind for remedying this situation: Create an entirely separate evaluation and documentation process for students who only need a note to excuse them from class. Have doctors, nurses, and psychiatrists present to evaluate the student’s condition and give them their note. UAC’s move to streamline the medical documentation process, as well as McGill mental health and counselling services’ recent adoption of a Stepped Care Model, are steps in the right direction. In the meantime, however, the fact that students have to jump through these hoops to prove they’re sick remains ridiculous.

It’s a simple concept: Rest when you’re sick. But when the process of getting a medical note is as exhausting as the flu itself, students are caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to taking care of both their bodies and their grades. At this point, sick students can only hope for enough DayQuil to get us through the semester.

 

 

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

“Superior Donuts” brings Broadway to Players’ Theatre

by Morgan Davis on

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Written by Tony Award-winner Tracy Letts, Superior Donuts refuses to shy away from challenging topics such as addiction, divorce, and estrangement, while retaining light-hearted humour and relatability. Now brought to the Players’ Theatre stage, the student rendition of the Broadway drama successfully captures the emotional exhaustion of its characters.

Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and other corporate giants are running independently owned small businesses into the ground, according to Superior Donuts owner Arthur Przybyszewski (Jonathan Vanderzon). After inheriting the small donut shop from his Polish immigrant parents, Arthur struggles to keep the business afloat in modern day Uptown, Chicago. Aside from a few loyal customers, the quiet cafe is visibly disintegrating—both physically and financially.  

The plot focuses on the relationship between Arthur and his newest employee, Franco Wicks (Sory Ibrahim Kaboré). As the two struggle to maintain a balance between Arthur’s reluctance to update the shop and Franco’s modern suggestions,the number of troubling secrets kept between the two men are gradually revealed.

In playing Max Tarasov, Filip Rakic maintains a precise and authentic Russian accent—giving credit to his Slavic upbringing. Providing comic relief during the play’s more troubling scenes, Max manages to bring humour and laughter to otherwise dark themes. Despite suffering from alcoholism and facing financial disparity, Max maintains a positive outlook on the feasibility of the American Dream as a Russian immigrant.

Vanderzon’s embodiment of a middle-aged man frozen in his comfort zone is captivating. Arthur directly addresses the audience on numerous occasions to deliver soliloquies about his history of draft-evasion during the Vietnam War, troubled family relationships, and a broken marriage. These excerpts from his life are haunting, tainted with a regret that remains disappointingly unresolved as the show ends.

Director Clay Walsh and his team of over twenty-five must be applauded for their dedication; their commitment to creating such a compelling show is evident.  

“We’ve all grown a lot through the process,”  said Francesca Scotti-Goetz, who plays Officer Randy Osteen.

The play’s primary flaw occurred during its climax. Following the vicious actions of Italian mobster Luther Flynn (Thomas Fix),  an uncomfortable brawl between Arthur and Luther concerning financial debts felt overly dramatic and poorly executed. The sound effects—such as clicking tongues to imitate the sound of a punch to the jaw—felt amateur alongside exaggerated fake punches,  marring the otherwise mature account of Arthur’s life.

While desperately gripping the past, Arthur struggles to overcome regret and look towards life beyond his parent’s run-down donut shop. “Dreaming is dangerous,” yells Arthur as he delivers a heartbreaking conclusion to an anger-fuelled disagreement with Franco. Arthur’s refusal to allow Franco to assist in modernizing the shop—and ultimately his outlook on life—is the central conundrum of the play.  Superior Donuts uses Arthur and Franco’s conflicting points of views to exemplify the difficulties of abandoning one’s normality to keep up with the rapidly changing world.  

~
Superior Donuts is playing at Players’ Theatre from Jan. 18-21 and Jan. 25-28 from 8-10 p.m.  Tickets are $6 for students and $10 general.

Private, Student Life

To Remember or Not to Remember: The role of nostalgia in the lives of university students

by Paige Mysliviec on

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When McGill is a student’s entire world, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the present. The past begins to look like a worry-free paradise that has gone by all too quickly. What comes next for many students is a hit of nostalgia for those memories of childhood, high school, or even last summer. Some students combat this feeling with photo collages, talking to friends back home, and reading articles with cultural childhood references, claiming that “only 90s kids will remember” these moments. These flashes of nostalgia—potentially bordering on homesickness—present a troubling paradox: University provides a platform for exploration and growth, yet, for some, the past can prove hard to leave behind.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, moments of nostalgia were seen as a cerebral disease, common among soldiers, in which patients were “stuck” in the past. Other doctors believed that the psychological disease was caused by a “pathological bone" which could never be found in the human body. Doctors commonly treated this by shaming patients for their glorification of the past, labelling it as a failure to live in the present.

However, for many university students—like Michaela Drouillard, U0 Arts—feelings of nostalgia inspire one to become more active in the present.

“I have some pictures in my room from when my family and I were at my cottage, like, back in the day,” Drouillard said. “[….] It makes me sort of want to do more stuff here.”

Constantine Sedikides, professor of Social and Personality Psychology at the University of Southampton, studies this phenomenon in his 2016 paper entitled “Past Forward: Nostalgia as a Motivational Force.” Sedikides describes nostalgia as both a painful and positive emotion; nostalgia increases optimism, evokes inspiration, and boosts creativity. According to him, pictures and memories from home are not a symbol of regression, but of motivation.

Some first-year students find themselves completely stable in their new environment, but for others, feelings of homesickness affect their first year. For Berenger Garnica, U1 Arts, feelings of nostalgia kicked in hardest during her transition into university.

“[In first year], I scrolled through photos of home on my computer while listening to sad music and I talked with friends from home a lot,” Garnica said. “[My homesickness is] less so than last year because I’ve adjusted to the environment.”

Another 2011 study by Routledge et al., entitled “The Past Makes the Present Meaningful: Nostalgia as an Existential Resource,” describes the main function of nostalgia to strengthen “a sense of meaning in life.” According to Routledge et al., when one is put in a position where his or her sense of purpose in life is compromised, such as through extreme change, he or she will turn to nostalgia. Beginning university is a big social change, and the demanding level of academics at McGill can exacerbate that transition. Routledge et al. report that students who find meaning in their life tend to benefit in both psychological and physical health, while those who struggle with this more may deal with higher anxiety or unhealthy behaviours.

To mitigate these feelings of anxiety, looking at pictures from the past and making phone calls to loved ones are methods of self-care rather than moments of weakness and failure at university. The experience of nostalgia does not necessarily require one to revisit or relive past memories, but instead conjures the same positively associated feelings.

“[Nostalgia is] more like the feelings you had in the [past that you] wish were present in your life right now [….] I find that most people are nostalgic when [they are] feeling lonely or feeling stressed [….] When you’re studying, you’re nostalgic to be a kid when you didn’t have to study,” Sarah Nelson, U1 Arts, said. “Nostalgia is a longing for something to be in your future, not a longing for you to be in your past.”

University forces students to focus on both their present academic performance, as well as their future prospects for jobs and graduate programs; the uncertainty of both makes the past the only period of time within one’s control. Nothing from the past will change, and therein lies its comfort. In the end, nostalgia is a rock in the windstorm of McGill. Sometimes the past is what is needed to get through the present.  

McGill, News

Change through music: Department of Family Medicine partners with Share the Warmth

by Rebecca Zhuang on

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Since October 2016, the Family Medicine Graduate Student Society (FMGSS) of McGill has partnered with community organization Share the Warmth to conduct research on a volunteer basis for the foundation’s music program. A research team made up of graduate students from the McGill Department of Family Medicine has been working to demonstrate the benefits of music. The team has looked at the effect that a musical education can have on the cognitive skills of children by using interactive tools, such as apps and games, to measure the participants’ memory, learning, reasoning, and problem solving skills.

Founded in 1989, Share the Warmth is a charity based in Montreal that provides music lessons for disadvantaged youth, in addition to tutoring and food banks. According to Share the Warmth’s Music Coordinator Nadège Wary, the music course is closely inspired by El Sistema–a program created 40 years ago in Venezuela that aspired to use music to prevent children from getting involved with drugs and street gangs. Share the Warmth aims to help young students remain academically successful and counteract the risks that can come with low socio-economic status by offering after-school music lessons.

“We have children with a lot of family difficulties or social difficulties, coming from disadvantaged [households],” Wary said. “Through music, we want to give the children who are in the program skills for living in a community, and for working together.”

The Share the Warmth El Sistema music course is offered to children in Pointe-Saint-Charles, which is among the most disadvantaged areas in Montreal and has economically been identified as one of Canada’s poorest neighbourhoods. According to Pathways to Education, the area’s high school dropout rate is approximately 41 per cent—more than twice as high as the dropout rate in Quebec.

According to Nickoo Merati, one of the Family Medicine graduate students involved in this project, a majority of Share the Warmth funding comes from donations. The organization is seeking a way to assure donors of the validity and impact of their music course.

“Providing an intensive music program to children that are not paying for it is incredibly costly to their donors,” Merati said. “So, having that concrete evidence will hopefully be able to convince the donors of their continued support.”

Cristina Longo, FMGSS president, said that the society has spent the last year working to establish a research capacity within the Share the Warmth organization that will provide measurable, scientific evidence of the positive influence of their El Sistema program.

To accomplish this, the graduate students working with Share the Warmth are using interactive games and questionnaires to measure integral factors, such as the cognitive ability and the level of happiness of the music program participants.

Longo believes that the El Sistema program at Share the Warmth is a project worth volunteering for, especially since it involves helping disadvantaged children to reach their full potential. In 2012, a study conducted by UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies Professor James S. Catterall showed that an education in the arts lessened the achievement gap between children of low and high socioeconomic status.

“Intervening in these types of populations early on, even if it’s an educational intervention like music, could actually help them become more successful later on in life, and be less likely to [be affected by] low socioeconomic status,” Longo said.

Overseeing this initiative is Dr. Gillian Bartlett, the Research and Graduate Program Director for the Department of Family Medicine at McGill. Dr. Bartlett said that she would like to see this unique collaboration expand to reach more students in the future.

“I hope [FMGSS] will continue to form partnerships with charities and organizations where the mandate is about children and education, or the education of more deprived populations or areas in the city that typically would not be able to have this type of support available to them,” Dr. Bartlett said.

Sports

The Williams sisters: From practice partners to tennis royalty

by Nicole Spadotto on

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Venus and Serena Williams’ ascent to stardom has transcended sports and moved into the forefront of popular culture. Serena recent appearance in Beyonce’s music video for “Sorry” demonstrates the extent to which the sisters have penetrated all facets of American society. While their supremacy is undisputed, it’s the sisters’ humble roots, hours of relentless practice, and their father–a man who wouldn’t stop pushing his daughters to greatness–that go largely unnoticed. In a form of poetic justice, their sibling rivalry transcended childhood practice to one of the most prolific tournaments in the world.

This past weekend, on Jan. 28, Venus and Serena battled one another for the Australian Open title, their first finals meeting since 2009. Ultimately, Serena won consecutive sets to claim her seventh Australian Open title and her 23rd Grand Slam—the most by any tennis player in history. However, after the match, she chose to speak about her closeness to Venus in both interviews and on social media, highlighting their sisterhood rather than their competitiveness. As such, revisiting their origins and their climb to winning Grand Slam titles is a cornerstone in understanding the impact they have had on their sport, on female athletics, and even on the politics of race relations in the United States.


Coming from modest beginnings, the Williams sisters father, Richard Williams, was the pair’s first and most influential tennis coach. Working as a sharecropper in his early years, he was drawn to tennis by the incredible amounts of money he noticed was exchanged after championships. Realizing the profitability of the sport, he decided that his two youngest daughters would become tennis players, but first, he had to teach himself how to play. Once he had a grasp of the game, he took his daughters to practice on the derelict tennis courts in Compton, California, where they spent countless hours working on tennis fundamentals. The time and effort put into the sport certainly paid off. By the time she was 16, though still unranked, Venus made it to the finals of her first U.S. Open. Serena soon followed suit, joining her older sister on tour and at some moments proving to be even more dominant.


The Williams sisters both leveraged and overcame their circumstances. Growing up in historically segregated areas of New York and California, their father asked passerbys to yell  racial slurs to prepare them for competitions. Their upbringing motivated them to be better and more competitive, mainly to improve life for themselves and their family. Even when faced with racial abuse, most notably at the 2001 BNP Paribas Open in which the sisters and their father faced harassment from the crowd, the sisters maintained their competitive edge.


Over the duration of their careers, the sisters have been both one another’s greatest rivals and greatest supporters; perhaps being siblings fuels the sisters into optimal performance when playing each other. They have faced one another in 28 professional tournaments with Serena leading the meetings 17-11, yet off the court their competitiveness waivers and their sisterhood shines. Each one recognizes that without one another and their childhood competitions, they wouldn’t be where they are today.


Venus and Serena, with their sheer athleticism, rags-to-riches story, and close sibling relationship have brought new attention to women’s tennis. They’ve also made significant strides in breaking down the barriers keeping African-Americans out of tennis. Ultimately, the Williams sisters have left an awe-inspiring legacy on tennis, but they have also left a mark on women and black athletes in sports—making strides in changing social biases. Considering their age and Venus’ autoimmune disease, this may be the last time we see the two sisters taking each other on in a Grand Slam final, but their legacies in the sports world are sure to survive.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

The Kalmunity Vibe Collective brings improvised jazz to Cafe Campus

by Tristan Sparks on

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“Chill is explosive,” is the opening line of the weekly Tuesday night showcase of the Kalmunity Vibe Collective. This idea rang true throughout the three hour set. Held at Petit Campus, the lesser known first floor of Café Campus, Kalmunity’s unique approach to improvised jazz is as captivating as it is relaxing.

Kalmunity was founded in 2003 by the current drummer, Jashun. Since then ,the collective has cultivated a dedicated rotation of accomplished musicians and poets. In the 13 years since their inception, Kalmunity has grown from hosting small jam sessions at the Sablo Cafe to drawing in weekly crowds at the roomier venue Petit Campus. Throughout the years, Kalmunity has given an opportunity for countless instrumentalists, vocalists, and performing artists to improvise together. Kalmunity has become Canada’s largest collective of musicians ranging from the professional to the amateur. 

Before the set began, Jashun took the stage to remind the audience that what they were about to hear is 100 per cent improvised. This feat is made all the more impressive by the skill with which Kalmunity’s performance is delivered. Jashun established a backing rhythm with polished ease; the bassist, keyboardist, followed by the rest of the band joined in to produce a cataclysm of jazz sound that had elements of funk, indie, electronica, and blues. While ad-libbing an entire song, the musicians maintained a cool, calm, and collected demeanour—truly befitting their “vibe collective.” 

Though the backing music is impressive in itself, a large portion of Kalmunity’s draw comes from the vocals. Singers, spoken word poets, and rappers alike perform, each bringing their own unique style and rhythm.  When two, three, or even four vocal performers take the stage at once, the effect is amplified as they effortlessly combine their voices into one dynamic, yet undoubtedly unified, sound. The stories told are not strictly improvised; many performers bring a written journal, or even a phone onto the stage, and read or sing pre-written thoughts out to the audience. The beat of the backing track is always followed to a tee, and, in the case of the singers, the improvised melody is entrancing. Vocalists explore themes ranging from love to political and social issues, each highlighting the artists’ diverse backgrounds.

The ever-changing rotation of artists creates striking differences from one Kalmunity performance to the next. One week, the band can be jovial and relaxed, with funky basslines and animated brass section. The next week, the band could be more reserved, with brass being replaced by bongos and jangly, indie-sounding guitar. Some sets of vocalists may favour performing one at a time, while others prefer two or four people sharing the stage. The Kalmunity vibe rotates with the musicians, but the talent and spirit is unwavering.

Kalmunity’s Tuesday night show at Petit Campus are lesser known within the McGill community—many students favour the more popular Throwback Tuesday Night at Café Campus, happening just above the heads of the improv jazz fans. But for those looking to branch out and experience more of what Montreal’s musical culture has to offer, Kalmunity is a perfect introduction. Their catchy hooks and chill vibes can be just what one needs for a mid-week study break.

Science & Technology

Safety first: A history of lab mishaps at McGill

by Oceane Marescal on

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Any student who has taken a chemistry lab at McGill is familiar with the infamous “Safety Lecture.” For most students, this means an hour of staring off into space as an overly-dramatic video shows acids inevitably spilled on unprotected eyes. Yet, such unfortunate accidents have such a low probability of occurrence that many students disregard safety precautions in the lab altogether. Lab accidents can feel like an abstract concept to most, but they have happened at McGill.

Wayne Wood is McGill’s director of Environmental Health and Safety. In his over 30 years of working for the university, Wood has done everything from calling a bomb squad to conducting a massive dig-up of the athletic fields in search of illegally buried chemicals. Wood is one of the first people called if an incident in a lab occurs and his team is the first line of defence against potentially hazardous situations.

 

Acid explosion shielded by hazmat suits

In 2003, when a 20-litre container of acid started heating up in a lab in the Stewart Biology Building, Wood sent two members of his team to respond. Their plan was to pack the container of acid into a secure drum, neutralize it, and then dispose of it. But the team never got that far. Just as they opened the door to the cabinet, the container of acid exploded and the two men were covered with 20 litres of hot concentrated acid. Fortunately, they were fully equipped and covered head-to-toe in $6,000 hazmat suits. For Wood, this was a lesson in the value of precautionary safety measures.

“Until then, I was wondering why I had spent $6,000 on that equipment,” Wood said.  “But those guys would’ve died without those suits.”

The root cause of the explosion was the mixing of materials that should not have been mixed together. This is the reason why most introductory chemistry labs clearly specify which waste container each chemical must be placed in to dispose of it.

 

Not-so-expected incidents at the Neuro

Fifteen years ago, a major explosion occurred at the Montreal Neurological Institute. Although no researchers were present at the time, the room was left with blackened walls and unrecognizably charred objects strewn across the area. There were also other smaller incidents involving the cleanup of radioactive materials in a chemistry lab and the disposal of nitroglycerine by firefighters in a psychiatry lab, but neither resulted in any injuries or major damage to materials.

(Photo courtesy of Wayne Wood)
(Photo courtesy of Wayne Wood)

 

Fume hood fails to protect from burning acetone

Despite improvements in lab safety in recent years, one incident occurred as recently as 2009 in the lab of Chemistry Professor Dr. Dima Perepichka.

The reaction involved bubbling oxygen in acetone and gradually adding a catalyst—a chemical used to accelerate a reaction—to the solution. The same routine procedure had been done many times before with no previous unusual or dangerous behaviour. This time, however, when the researcher in Perepichka’s lab went to add the catalyst, the reaction caused the solution to erupt and he was hit with a wave of burning acetone. The researcher was rushed to the hospital with serious burns, and fortunately recovered within a couple of weeks.

“The safest method would have been to perform the reaction under a shield,” Perepichka said.

Instead, the researcher had been working under a fume hood. While the fume hood does offer a layer of protection between the reaction vessel and the person conducting the experiment, it was not enough to prevent the researcher’s injury.

The explosion had been caused by static electricity between the metal thermometer in the vessel and the metal tip of the syringe used to add in the catalyst—the two together created a spark that was enough to trigger the combustion event. The chances of such an incident occurring were incredibly slim. In fact, nothing like it had ever happened before, despite the reaction being a routine and often repeated procedure. The incident left Perepichka with an important lesson on taking proper safety precautions in the lab.

“Unpredictable things do happen, so you must always be vigilant,” Perepichka said.

As corny as it sounds, being vigilant for the everyday lab student means always wearing a lab coat and goggles, and following the precise instructions written in the manuals. Wood noted that he had no recent incidents to report, affirming the “new culture of lab safety” that has arisen at McGill, largely due to increased caution on the part of students and instructors. So, next time a safety video plays, think twice before tuning it out to scroll through Facebook–a fireball could be right around the corner.

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